Day 154: F.M.

F.M. by Steely Dan

I have a strange recollection with this song that involves a new stereo my grandfather owned in the 70s. It was one of the first stereo units I had encountered with an AM/FM tuner. It had a backlit dial, and VU meters that bounced along with the audio signal. The red needle on the meters would quickly jump to the right from the static if you were searching for a station on the AM side, but when you clicked the dial over to FM, the silence between stations was surprising and new. And the reception, in stereo, was remarkable. Seems silly now when you can yell at your smart speaker or phone to play any song, but back then, finding a radio station from silence and no static at all seemed brilliant.

“FM (No Static at All)” is a song by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan, the title theme for the 1978 film FM. It made the US Top 40 that year when released as a single, a success relative to the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_(No_Static_at_All)